This invention relates to a nut-like fastener made of plastic that can be pressed onto a threaded pin. The fastener consists of a holding part for holding another object in place, such as a panel or mat, and a fastening part for securing the fastener to the pin. The fastening part consists of several resilient clamping walls that are integral with and extend downwardly from the holding part of the fastener and which are uniformly distributed in a circle around the axis of the fastener and form an opening for the pin. The walls readily expand to permit the fastener to be pushed onto the pin, but then tightly grip the periphery of the pin to hold the fastener in place.
A fastener of this type and in the shape of a nut that can be pressed onto a threaded pin is known from German Pat. No. 30 00 208. This fastener can be used with other holding-type elements besides nuts, such as caps, cable clamps, tube clamps, cable harnesses or the like, the holding part of the fastener either being mounted on the fastening part or integral with it.
In this type of fastener, however, the clamping walls are integrally joined at their lower edges to the inside edge of the head of the nut in such a manner that upon the insertion of the threaded pin into the nut, the clamping walls elastically bend apart at their free upper ends. In this manner the nut can be easily hammered down onto the threaded pin and, where called for, may futhermore be rotated somewhat thereafter, with the threads slightly digging into the inside surface of the smooth clamping walls. This type of fastener offers the advantage of being rapidly and simply pressed on the threaded pin, which is usually mounted on a support plate, and if necessary, removed simply by being turned.
With the clamping walls joined at their lower edges, however, they only tend to grip the threaded pin at that end, permitting, within certain limits, the other or free end of the nut to tumble or wobble about the pin. This is generally not a problem in a driven nut like that shown in the German reference where its bottom flange rests firmly against the surface of the element to be fastened to the support plate. But if, on the other hand, it is desired to fasten an object to the holding part of the fastener remote from the plate holding the pin, then this tumbling motion could be a problem because the components to be held in place will not be held firmly enough.